Lois Lerner’s ace in the hole

Will Lois Lerner cooperate with investigations into the IRS scandal or will she stonewall? My friend Ray Hartwell, writing for the American Spectator, argues that Lerner is unlikely to cooperate as long as she has her “ace in the hole,” namely Eric Holder.

Hartwell, who has vast experience defending clients under investigation by the Justice Department, believes that, absent Holder, Lerner might well cooperate with a Justice Department investigation in order to avoid prosecution. But as long as Holder is the Attorney General, and in the absence of a special prosecutor, he can block the prosecution of Lerner. And Lerner has every reason to believe that Holder will do so, however hard career DOJ lawyers lean on her.

Indeed, notes Hartwell, Lerner and her attorney (both reportedly staunch Obama supporters) know how protective Holder is when it comes to the friends and supporters of the president. They know that Holder has declined vigorously to enforce the law against the Black Panthers in Philadelphia when they didn’t even contest the charges; that he has refused to investigate all sorts of vote fraud allegations, not to mention schemes to defraud assorted federal entitlement schemes; that he has repeatedly stonewalled Congress on the Fast and Furious operation; and that he has already declined to prosecute the IRS for leaking confidential taxpayer information on conservatives.

Thus, Lerner has little to fear from Holder’s Justice Department.

But what about the House of Representatives? Once again, Hartwell reminds us, it all comes down to Holder. Congress can hold Lerner in contempt, but has no power to prosecute her. It can only refer the matter to DOJ.

Therefore, as Hartwell concludes, under present circumstances one should not hold one’s breath waiting for Lois Lerner to cooperate with the IRS investigation in any genuinely meaningful way.

JOHN adds: Sadly, I am afraid that is correct. The Department of Justice under Barack Obama and Eric Holder is utterly corrupt.